Interest in Liturgy


God makes all things work for good. The Wednesday night ZOOM bible study was fading, but this Wednesday I moved from talking about a Bible survey to a specific topic, in this case, The Work of Christ on the Cross. I never know until the end what their response will be, but I've gained enough rapport with them so they ask lots of questions. As a result of the questions and discussion, a new theme came up: Liturgy, or How to Plan a Worship Service. I've done a lot of work on that theme so we're all set for the next meeting. I think we've finally find a topic that they're really interested in. Just need to follow God's lead.


Rare rainbow


A morning rainbow is rare. Usually we see rainbows in the afternoon in the East. This one only lasted 10 minutes.
Last week was rare. All three Zoom meetings were cancelled. The first, because the leader (Vinicio) had a family emergency. The second because the leader (Luis) was sick. And the third because no one connected for whatever reason. Have to be patient and persevere.

My soul finds rest in God alone. Psalm 62:1
Trust in him at all times. Psalm 62:8

Rained out on ZOOM

Now, how can you get rained out on zoom? Luis Ortiz lives in Sablog, which is a far-removed Quichua community in the mountains behind Guamote. He has kept in touch with me, and constantly wants to learn more and "keep up" with the outside world. As a result of his pursuit, he is the first one in his community to get internet installed in his home. That's a BIG step for a remote community! Now we are trying to begin a regular bible study on ZOOM. Normally, with ZOOM, everyone stays at home, but he is the only one with internet. So everyone has to come to his home for the meeting. We connected Friday night on ZOOM at the agreed time, but he was the only one there. What happened? Luis explained to me, "It just started raining. A real downpour." I know enough to understand that when it rains in the mountains, no one is going to leave their home. So we got "rained-out." We did have a good time going over the material I had prepared, so Luis can help me explain it next week, Lord willing, if we don't have another rain storm.

Church Moves to Our Home


The pastor called me Saturday morning, "We can no longer pay the rent where we meet for church services. Can we store everything at your house?"
These are some of the migrants from Capulispungo who now live in Quito. We've been friends with them for several years now, so we know and trust each other well. I drove to Quito and they loaded up my pickup, hardly believing we could take everything in one trip. After unloading at our home and carefully storing chairs, pulpits, boxes, etc., the pastor asks me, "Can we meet here once a month?" Yes, we have the space and the time. Not the first time a church has used our back yard and shelter for services. And now we'll have more contact with them. The ministry continues.


Tell me stories


I have one steady, weekly, ZOOM, bible study so far, (with potential for three more). We're all getting used to using the internet, but I'm thinking about the teaching methods I'm using. For one, the bible study or message shouldn't be more than half an hour. People are sitting in their homes and get distracted easily. I also try to ask questions, but you have to ask a specific person, and each person needs to know how to turn on and off their microphones. But over all, I'm trying to develop the time-proven method of telling stories. I use pictures, and I can project the pictures over ZOOM. First of all, it keeps their attention, but also, the method of telling a bible story seems to communicate better than a three-point topical sermon. Also, a person's lack of bible knowledge here is discouraging. I think it may be because a lot of sermons are based on doctrine, science, and/or psychology rather than on the bible. My strategy is to tell bible stories and reflect on the purpose of the story. And by using selected stories, I'm tying them together to form an outline of the whole bible story. After all, the bible really isn't a book about doctrine, but about the story of God's intervention in our world.